


Sun protection

by musterings



Series: Summer Gladnis Week 2019 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Being sun smart is sexy, Day At The Beach, Iggy thinks it's one-sided attraction, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Teasing, self-consciousness but only for a moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-23 20:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20218024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musterings/pseuds/musterings
Summary: Sunscreen tended to leave a greasy film for a few minutes before it settled into the skin, and it was once a useful reminder that Ignis had protected himself from the sun’s harsh rays. Now all it did was remind him of where Gladio’s hands have been.Written for Summer Gladnis Week 2019. Day 1, prompt: beach; adjectives: sunny, sizzling





	Sun protection

On the banks of a beach on Galdin Quay, Ignis sat on a towel on the sand and sifted through their belongings, taking stock of their supplies. The other three revelled at the sight of the advancing foam meeting the white sand and had rifled through their belongings for the cheap swimwear they bought at a nearby pit stop and had bolted straight to the water. 

Before the road trip, the likes of a beach Ignis had ever made scarce time to witness in Insomnia were but small rocky patches of river banks or lakes or muddy sand along what little coast could be found on Insomnia’s fringes. He couldn’t blame his friends for their excitement when the neverending bright blue ocean and the sizzling white sand under the towel he sat on was nothing short of a revelation. Now  _ this _ was a beach.

He’d dare say that venturing out of Insomnia had been a constant series of revelations.

The first of which was that the sun never shone quite the same in all points of Eos. Ignis could swear the sun had drawn closer to the earth back when they were travelling through the Leiden desert, and even closer now as it glared from across the endless blue horizon. 

Ignis pulled out a large bottle of sunscreen from one bag, and walked up closer to where the ocean met the shore. Sunscreen pump bottle in hand, he watched his three friends waist deep in the water, stripped down to the shorts they had hastily changed into as soon as they had stowed their packs on the sand. 

If the pink sheen on Prompto’s freckled back was any indication, Prompto was sure to burn. And Ignis was not going to take any chances with Noctis. Prompto shrieked and Ignis looked up from reading the label of the sunscreen bottle. From behind Prompto, Gladio had emerged from the depths with a great yell, water streaming down the dark hair plastered to his head, and down to the dips and planes of prominent muscles.

Gladio glanced up at Ignis and nodded. Ignis nodded back. Gladio's bronzed skin had tanned darker through the des ert, and could darken still. Even the Shield would benefit from sun protection.

A splash of water arced over the other boys as Gladio turned to splash water at the Prince, giving Ignis a view of the ripple the tattoo on his chiseled back made as he moved. Ignis looked back down at the bottle of sunscreen in his hand and he ran his tongue across his dried up lips and his fingers across the raised print of the bottle as he held it. What would it feel like to, if he did the same over the black ink on Gladio's back? 

Another revelation, but one which occurred well before their road trip. 

Back home such daily revelations brought about by friendly amber eyes and handsome smiles were easy to acknowle dge and file away as objective fact, despite Gladio's insistent advances and overly friendly nature. But on the road it wasn’t as straightforward, with the Regalia as the closest thing they had to a permanent four walled fixture.

The drive through Leide was pure torture. Under the heat of the desert sun, Ignis’s skin prickled in his shirt, but next to the heat of the shirtless man beside him, hotter than the sun itself, Ignis  _ swelter _ _ ed. _ He kept his arms rightly crossed in front of him, almost crushing his can of Ebony in his grip in resisting the urge to reach his hand out and  _ touch _ .

The occasional glances meeting Gladio’s through the rearview mirror were at least tolerab le when he took the wheel, but Noctis insisted on using the desert of all places as the most opportune time to accustom himself with his newfound independence beyond the Wall. 

Absolutely no regard for Ignis in the back seat at all.

Their road trip was also a revelation to his companions, to the detriment of Ignis's sanity. With new sights and experiences on offer at every pit stop, their Prince and Prompto, normally  convenient barriers between him and Gladio back home, bounced excitedly from one curiosity to the next, leaving Ignis to hang back with Gladio, who would offer a bashful smile and shrug, wholly unaffected and unaware of the strain in Ignis’s posture. 

In Insomnia it had been easy, even in close quarters, for Ignis to avoid this one objective fact.

“Make sure to put sunscreen on,” Ignis called out, one hand cupped around his mouth to carry his voice over the water.

Two smacks sounded in succession as Gladio slapped Noctis and Prompto’s wet backs and gestured at the two to return to the sand. With a groan from Noctis, they trudged back and dried themselves off quickly, and Noctis begrudgingly took the bottle from Ignis.

“Doubt it’d make a difference,” said Noctis. He pumped sunscreen onto his hand and slathered the white liquid across his arms and chest, “Prom already looks like fried salmon,”

“Hey!” said Prompto, “I’m still salvageable, right Iggy?”

“Don’t forget your necks and—”

“Alright, alright, I got ya,” said Noctis and he smeared some on Prompto’s back, “Do mine next,”

With a “Thanks bud!” Prompto finished covering his legs, and then Noctis’s back after. A loud slap on Noctis’s back and a disgruntled “Ouch!” later, the two boys were racing back into the water.

“You two should probably wait until—”

There were two successive splashes in the water and Prompto’s loud laugh echoed around the bay. Ignis sighed. They may as well have not applied any.

Ignis walked back to their belongings and took his place back on the towel on the sand, and rubbed sunscreen onto his arms and what was exposed of his legs. He opted for a pair of shorts too, but kept on a light white cotton shirt that he wouldn’t mind getting wet, shoul d he choose to enter the water. After all, the clear water and the breeze that rolled along it  _ was  _ enticing. 

But if Ignis was confused as to how he was to comport himself around Gladio when he was dry and mostly clothed on land, he was at a loss as to how he’d keep himself together next to him, stripped down to a pair of small shorts that hung dangerously low on his hips, bronzed muscles glistening in the sun, and a sly look to his eye whenever Ignis so much as budged from his spot.

Ignis planted the sunscreen bottle next to him, and he caught Gladio’s figure from the corner of his eye walking out of the water to stand in front of him, eclipsing the rays of the sun that shone into Ignis’s eyes.

“Need any help?” rumbled Gladio, the sun at his back creating a halo around the silhouette of his impressive musculature,

“I think I’ve gotten most of it,” said Ignis. He kept his eyes fixed on his knees and he rubbed the sunscreen into them. 

“I can help you with your back if you want,” said Gladio,

“That's hardly necessary,” said Ignis, “I intend to keep my shirt on.” 

“You do not fool me Ignis Scientia,” Gladio snorted and he placed his hands on his hips, “I haven’t forgotten Iris’s eight birthday pool party,”

Ignis sighed and frowned at the man above him. His skin hadn’t forgotten the courtesy invite either. It had peeled for almost a week, and its tenderness made wearing his starched and pressed shirts unbearable.

“If I recall correctly,” said Gladio with a smile, “You had a t-shirt on then too.”

Ignis brought his knee s to his chest and folded his arms on top of them, his eyes level with where water dripped down from Gladio’s belly button to the waistband of his shorts, and with where his hands held his hips. 

Large hands Ignis’s skin wouldn't likely forget.

“Fine," he said with a resigned sigh, 

“I’m doin’ you a favour Iggy!” Gladio laughed, “Don’t hafta look so sour about it.”

Gladio’s shadow from above him moved away and Ignis squinted when the sun’s rays blinded him again. The sand beneath him shifted and Gladio took his place behind him.

“Are you gonna take your shirt off or am I doing that for you too?” said Gladio, the smile evident in his voice,

Heat pricked up Ignis’s neck and he released another weary sigh. His heart pounded in his ears as he lifted the hem of his shirt up to rest on his shoulders. A simple action he’s done for others before, for a vastly different activity altogether, and he would laugh at the irony in doing it for Gladio now if his throat hadn’t closed up from his nerves.  A breeze rolled in and hit his bare skin and he was suddenly self-conscious of the marks on his back, old acne scars he hadn't paid heed in years, let alone felt timid about, not even with his previous partners who have had the pleasure of acquainting themselves with Ignis’s back in ways he wished Gladio could, that is, with the lights turned down low and all his imperfections hidden from view. 

He brought his knees closer together and he folded his arms on top of his knees again.

“You're whiter than the sand here,” was the only thing that Gladio said, “You need a bit of sun on ya.”

“I thought we’ve both established that I'd only burn," said Ignis. He heard the splurt of sunscreen out of the bottle behind him and his toes curled into the sand under his towel.

“I’m not saying you need to stay out for too long,” said Gladio, “But the vitamin D would do you some good.”

“I’m quite confident that I don’t need to be shirtless for that.”

Gladio's chuckle was low and melodic, and Ignis had spent sleepless nights imagining the same scenario, a deep voice teasing him from behind, while he held himself on his hands and knees.

“But I bet it wouldn’t hurt,” said Gladio.

The tips of Gladio's fingers skirted across the top of his shoulders, pressing a dollop of the liquid against them, warm from the bottle having sat in the car, and Ignis jolted up. 

“Why don’t you come out and swim with us?” asked Gladio,

“Someone has to keep an eye on our things.”

“How about I do that? That way you get a go in the water.”

His shoulders tensed as Gladio's fingers smeared the sunscreen across his shoulder blades next, and then worked their way down his spine.

“No it’s fine, you go have your fun.” Ignis clenched his stomach as Gladio’s other hand joined in, and both hands ran the sunscreen in thick streaks down the sides of his back, “I doubt it’d be anyone’s great loss if I remained dry,”

“You sure about that?” Gladio said, followed by another deep chuckle, “I know some people who’d be into the wet t-shirt look,”

Ignis hugged his knees tighter, “I’m not quite sure what you’re insinuating.”

All Ignis heard was another snort followed by a quiet laugh as he pumped more sunscreen from behind Ignis.

It took almost seconds when he watched Noctis and Prompto help each other slather each other in the stuff so they could be back in the water again. But he squeezed his eyes shut and Gladio’s hands finally made their way lower, and Ignis half expected the sun to have set when he opened them again, each second Gladio’s hands were on him feeling more like a full hour. The hands paused on the small of his back and Ignis suppressed a shudder, his mind slipping into images of battle worn hands sliding further down and digging into his slender hips.

“Hmm,” Gladio’s thumb rubbed a spot by his spine.

“Yes?” said Ignis, his shoulders tensing tighter,

“Y’know you got moles on your back?”

“I know  _ of _ them, yes,”

“Yeah got one here,” a fingertip pressed against his left shoulder blade, “They’re almost everywhere actually,” and Ignis swallowed as the rough pad of Gladio’s finger tip traced angular shapes across his back, “They're pretty cute.”

“If you could cut that out,” Ignis swatted his hand behind him, and he cooked up the excuse that he would need to slather more sunscreen on his face for the burn of his cheeks in the sun should Gladio take notice and ask, 

“Sorry, sorry,” Gladio laughed, 

“Are you quite finished?” Ignis asked.

“Not just yet,” said Gladio. He heard him pump more sunscreen out and the warm liquid was slathered on his neck with a large calloused hand, and the hairs on the nape of his neck would stan d if they weren’t covered in the greasy liquid. And he could protest that he can reach that spot himself, but Gladio’s hand fit perfectly around the nape in his neck, and he had to hold himself back from leaning into its touch. 

“Now that’s all of it.”

Ignis released an exhale, the tension in his shoulders leaving his body with it, "Thank you." 

"No worries," Gladio smirked, "Do you need help with the front too?" 

Ignis tugged his shirt downwards with a huff, “I can take care of that myself,”

With a loud laugh, Gladio pulled out a towel from their bag to sit beside him and applied sunscreen on himself. He made quick work of his arms and legs, and Ignis turned just enough to look away, but still kept him in the corner of his gaze as Gladio slathered the liquid over his abs and chest, and it almos t made Ignis’s resolve crumble and give in to the earlier offer despite it made clearly in jest.

He expected Gladio to get up and walk back into the water, but instead, he laid on his side across the towel, and propped his head up on one arm, his elbow sinking towel-covered sand.

“I have to admit Iggy, when I helped you out there,” Gladio smirked again when Ignis met his gaze, “I had an ulterior motive.”

“Is that so?” asked Ignis, nonchalant as he applied sunscreen to his torso under his shirt. 

Sunscreen tended to leave a greasy film for a few minutes before it settled into the skin, and it was once a useful reminder that Ignis had protected himself from the sun’s harsh rays. Now all it did was remind him of where Gladio’s hands have been.

“Yep,” Gladio folded his arms in front of him and laid down on his front, rolling his shoulders as he did so, and blood rushed into Ignis’s ears and down into his shorts as he watched Gladio’s scapula shift under the tanned skin and dark harsh lines of the feathers of his tattoo.

Gladio turned and glanced over his shoulder and shot Ignis a devious smile.

“Could you do my back next?”

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: I feel obligated to say that you should really put your sunscreen on at least half an hour _before_ you go out into the sun


End file.
